Car door locking mechanism



Jan. 1, 1952 G. B. DOREY CAR DOOR LOCKING MECHANISM 2 SHEETS--SHEET 1Filed June 5, 1947 Jan. 1, 1952 DOR-EY 2,580,897

' CAR DOOR-LOCKING MECHANISM F iled June 5, 1947 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 W W:70E

Patented Jan. 1, 1952 new!" OFF-ICE CAR DOOR LOCKING MECHANISM George B..Dorcy, Westmount, Quebec, Canada, assignor to Enterprise RailwayEquipment Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois ApplicationJune 5, 1947, Serial No. 752,761

My invention relates to an improved car door locking mechanism for usein connection with the doors of railway hopper cars and the like.

A particular object of my invention is to provide amechanism suitablefor use in connection with vertically swinging doors employed in hoppercars and is especially adapted for use in connection with so called unitdoors which are swung to closed position manually and thereafter latchedin closed position.

One of the particular objects of my invention is to provide a mechanismwith the weight thereof so distributed .in relation to the doorstructure that the weight of the parts will only be lifted a limitedvertical distance in the course of the door closing operation.

My invention further resides in certain details of construction andarrangements of parts such as will be more fully pointed out hereinafterand claimed.

For further comprehension of my invention, reference may be had to theaccompanying-drawings wherein: Fig. 1 indicates a transverse sectionalview of a portion of a so called W type of hopper car, showing inelevation, with the door in open position my improvements in connectiontherewith. Fig. .2 is a side elevational view of that portion of the carshown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plan seetional view taken through the doorand on a line corresponding substantially to a line 3-3 of Fig. .1. Fig.4 is a fractional sectional view on an en- Jargedsca'le through one ofthe crank strait supporting brackets, showing a portion of thepranksha-ftin threading relation with the bracket, said section beingtaken on a .line corresponding substantially to a line 4-4 of .1. Fig. 5is a side elevational view on an enlarged scale or that portion of thecar illustrated in Fig. 1, said view illustrating the door in closedposition. fig. 5

is a side elevational detached view of the outer keeper. Fig. 7 is afrontal elevational view of theouter keeper shown .in Fig.6 as viewedfrom right to left. Fig. 8 is a side elevational detached .view of theinner keeper. Fig. 9 is a frontal e1 rational view of the inner keepershown in Fig.

8 .as viewed :from ri ht to left.

In said drawings, 10 denotes-one of the beams of the centersill and 1]one :of the side walls of thecar. customary in the type of car shown,the-hoppers are disposed on each side of the centersill and extendbetween the side wall and contersill of the car in transversely alinedrelation. Each .of said hoppers is :defined by a rsloping floor .wall1.2, a substantially vertical inner wall -13.

1 Claim. (Cl. 105.308)

and an outside hopper wall I4, the latter sloping inwardly anddownwardly towards the longitudinal center of the car. r Y I The hopperadjacent the opening is reinforced by a frame which extends around theside walls and bottom :fioor wall of the hopper, said frame ispreferablyof angle shape with one flange l6 overlying the hopper wallsand having the adjacent flange I1 outstanding from the said overlyingwall. Said frame adjacent the upper part of the hopper is provided witha top member :18

, having hinge butts i9 associatedtherewith. The

said frame and edge portions of thehopper walls combine to define theboundaries of adi'scharge opening which is adapted to be closed hy adischarge door 20.

Said door 20 is provided with hinge straps .2l

whereby the door is pivotally :supported from hinge but-ts 19 by meansof binge pivots 22 and the door is thus mounted to swing freely in .asubstantially vertical position when open as in dicated in Fig. 2. Saiddoor is preferably formed of sheet metal and is flanged upwardly at 2.3at its marginal edges to provide a pan :shapedstructure which is adaptedto embrace the overlying flange of the frame when the door is in closedlnforcing member to stifien the door. Said embossment is in the form ofa pan with the :bottom wall 25 extending in the general direction of thedoor and spaced from the seating'smiace M of 'thedoor and the sides ofsaid pan shaped structure being indicated at 25,21, 28 and 29. In

its preferred form the embossment is made suili- Iciently large to takein as much of the door area as possible in order to attain large cubicalcarrying capacity. The disposition of the major portion of the weight ofthe door below t level O the marginal abuttin portions of the door is ofadvantage in the raising of the door to closed position. It will benoted by reference to Fig. 5 that the door when in closed position liesat an angle to the vertical and that the main "portion of the door asrepresented by the pan shape portion lies in a more pe t-pendicularplane than the abutting marginal portion .24 and consequently theraising operation of the door is a comparatively easy matter.

The door is adapted to be kicked or swung to closed position manuallyand is retained in closed position by door locking mechanism whichincludes a crankshaft 30 carried by the door and co-operating keepermeans carried by the hopper as indicated at'3l on the inner side of thehopper and at32 on the outer side of the hopper. Said crankshaft 30includes a main body portion 33 lying outwardly of the embossment and ispivotally mounted in brackets indicated at 34 and V 35 respectively,said brackets in turn being mounted on the embossment. r I

The crankshaft at each end thereof and are spaced therefrom a sufficientdistance to accommodate the upwardly extending door flange and the adjacentar'm 36.

outwardly of the supporting brackets is provided with a crank portionincluding an arm 36 and an outstanding projection 31 in the form of atrunnion. The said arms 36 straddle the door and the weighted portion ofthe arms and associated trunnions 3T operate to maintainthe arms innormal latching position so that the mechanism will always be inreadiness to function in the manner of an automatically engageable latchas the door is moved to closed position. The

shaft supporting brackets 34 and are mounted at the respective ends ofthe embossment and are each formed with oppositely directed openbearings 38 and 39 spaced'lengthwlse ofthe shaft to provide an elongatedaperture 40 disposed between said respective bearings and through whichthe bent portions 4|. of the crankshaft may be *threaded as indicated inFig. 4. The function of bearing 38 is to prevent outward movement of theshaft and the function of bearing 39 is to provide a rigid bearingsupport for the shaft beyond the limits of the embossment. Each said:bracket-includes angularly related walls as in- Idicated at 42 and 43respectively for. attachment to the respective walls 25 and 26 of mentby means of rivets 44; H e

The outer bracket34, which is located adjacent the sloping wall of thehopper, is provided with an end wall 45, said wall 45 being disposed ina planethe embosssubstantially normal to the'pivotal axis of shaft 30;said wall 45 is adapted to act as a guide for .the adjacent arm-36 ofthe crankshaft throughout its entire range ofswinging movement and alsooperates to limit inward longitudinal move- :ment of the shaft. Outwardlongitudinal movement of the shaft is prevented by a strap plate 46which is spaced from the wall 45 a sufficient distance to accommodatethe associated arm 35 between said respective walls. The plate 46 issecured to wall 45 by means of rivets 41.

The plate 46 is maintained in spaced relation with respect to wall 45 bymeans of ferrules 48 :and-49, said ferrule 48 in addition to itsfunction as a spacer also operating as a stop to limit downward movementof the related arm 36. The

ferrule 49 is located at theupper portion of the strap and formsapivotal support for a locking dog 56, said dog being adaptedto be swunginto locking engagement with the crankshaft arm to thereby lock them'echanism in operative Iatch ing position. The said dog 50 is pivotallymounted at a location so related to the undersideof the door as topermit the placement of the said dog gagement with the trunnionportions31 of the The body portion 54 of the inner keeper 3! is disposed in aplane normal to the axis of the v shaft 30 and is formed with asecondary supporting shoulder 55 lying outwardly of and beyond the mainsupporting shoulders 5|, said secondary shoulder being for the purposeof supporting the door in partially closed position. Said secondaryshoulder 55 i's connected with the main supportingshoulder 50 by a wall56 extending at an incline between said main and secondary shoulders.Beyond the secondary shoulder 55 the body portion 54 is provided with aforwardly projecting extension presenting an edge surface 51constituting a downwardly inclined runway leading from the tip of saidshoulder 55 and adapted to engage the trunnion portion 31 of the shaftas the'door is moved to'closed position.

Movement of the door in a closing direction 'brings the trunnion 31 ofthe arm 36 at the inner side of the door into contact with'the surface5'! thereby displacing the latch from its normal latching position.Continued'movement of the door in a, closing direction finally resultsin the associated trunnion dropping into engagement with the secondaryshoulder 55 and the door is then retained in partially closed positionentirely by the inner keeper 3i and independently of the outer keeper32.

The door may be moved from its partially closed 'to fully closedposition by movement of the shaft arms 36' in a downward direction, andto this end a fulcrum plate'56 is welded or otherwise secured to theoutstanding flange ll of theframe l6 adjacent the outer supportingkeeper, said plate being adapted to serve as a fulcrum for aremovable'bar as'will be described.

Assuming that the door is in partially closed position as indicated inFig. 2 by conventional clot and dash lines, the closing operation iseffected by inserting abar 59 between trunnion 3'! and fulcrum 58 andbearing upwardly as indicated at 60'which results in forcing thetrunnion portion 31 at the inner keeper downwardly along inclinedsurface 56 and wedging the door to closed position.

The outer keeper :2 is provided with a laterally extending projection 6|for co-operation with a removable bar 62 whereby the latch may beconveniently and safely released by an operator standing at the side ofthe car.

Said fulcrum extension 6i may also be employed in the course of the doorraising operation for levering the door to fully closed position byinserting a suitable tool between the fulcrum 6| and the trunnion 31 andexerting pressure in adoor closing direction.

It will be noted that the main portion'of the shaft indicated' at" 36,together with theJa'ss'ociated supporting 'bearings'only lift ashortSvertical distance as indicated at 63 in the coursaof the doorraising operation and this feature isa factor which contributes to easeof door operation.

An advantageous feature of my improved construction resides in the factthat the latching mechanism is substantially contained within the planeof the outer hopper side wall and also within the plane of the sideflange of the door with the exception of a slightly projecting portionof the crank 31 and this absence of clumsy projecting parts beyond thehopper is a most desirable condition.

What I claim is:

In a car door mechanism for the hopper of a car body having a dischargeopening and a door pivotally mounted adjacent the upper part of theopening for closing said opening; the improvement which consists oflatching means for retaining the door in closed position, said meansincluding members respectively carried by the door and car body, saidmembers on the door including a crank shaft pivotally mounted adjacentthe swinging edge of the door and having an arm at each end thereofformed with a projection extending lengthwise of the shaft and spacedappreciably from the pivotal axis of the shaft, said members on the carbody including shouldered keepers co-operating with the projections ofthe shaft; brackets on the door for supporting the shaft, one of saidbrackets having a pair of guiding walls associated therewith, said wallsbeing spaced apart to accommodate one of the arms therebetween; and alocking dog pivotally mounted between said walls and adapted to engagethe related arm for locking the door mechanism in operative latchingposition.

GEORGE B. DOREY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

